by Michele Chabin and Nati Gershovich, Special to USA TODAY

by Michele Chabin and Nati Gershovich, Special to USA TODAY

As the cease-fire took effect, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked President Obama for his "unwavering support for Israel's right to defend itself."

He also thanked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for helping broker the truce, which he said he agreed to so Israelis could "return to their normal routine," The Jerusalem Post reported.

Early reaction from Israelis, however, indicated many were unhappy with the deal.

At a news conference with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the prime minister said Israel had destroyed "thousands of Hamas rockets," along with the organization's command centers. But he also indicated that an invasion of Gaza might be possible in the future if hostilities resume.

"I know there are citizens that expected a wider military operation, and it could be that it will be needed. But at this time, the right thing for the state of Israel is to take this opportunity to reach a lasting cease-fire," he said.

Here's the statement his office issued when the truce was announced:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening, spoke with US President Barack Obama and acceded to his recommendation to give the Egyptian cease-fire proposal a chance and thereby give an opportunity to stabilize and calm the situation before there is a need to use greater force. The Prime Minister expressed his deep appreciation to the President for his support of Israel during the operation and for his contribution to the Iron Dome system. The Prime Minister reiterated that Israel would take all necessary steps to defend its citizens.

Shmuel Sandler, a political scientist at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, said Netanyahu "did a smart thing by giving some credit to the American administration. Giving some reward to the president and Secretary of State Clinton. It's significant, I think, that we finished the operation with American support."

Sandler said Egypt's involvement is also a positive sign.

"Israel has an interest in having Egypt more involved in Gaza and most important, it showed Egypt, even under the Islamists, that it has an interest in maintaining ties with Israel," he said.

But many Israelis voiced opposition to the truce with Hamas.

A quick poll by Israel's Channel Two found that 70% of Israelis did not support the cease-fire, 24% favored it and 6% were undecided, McClatchy Newspapers reported. And in Sderot, about 30 residents showed their displeasure with the truce by blocking a road and "chanting disparaging remarks" about Netanyahu, Haaretz reported.

"The Israeli government looks weak in the eyes of the world, in the eyes of the Arab street and, worst of all, in the eyes of their own citizens, who have been facing missile attacks day in and day out since Israel pulled out of Gaza," Jerusalem resident Joshua Halickman told USA TODAY.

Nathaniel Mizrahi, 59, who owns a printing shop in Tel Aviv, called the cease-fire "a terrible mistake," saying Israel did not finish what it started.

"We could achieve security only if we would continue to exhaust the enemy at least another week," he said. "Israel must enter Gaza, conquer it, clean all the seeds of terrorism."

Yossi Biton wonders aloud, "Why has Israel folded?"

"It is impossible to engage in dialogue with terrorism," the 50-year-old Tel Aviv municipal worker said angrily. "There is no such thing as a partnership with terror."

Biton also rejected his prime minister's desire to get life back to normal.

"I don't want the calmness," he said. "I'm ready to suffer more, sit in the shelter, as much it takes to extract completely the seeds of terrorism in Gaza."

Yael Talker and her two children fled Kibbutz Reim, about 2 miles from the Gaza border, and have taken refuge from the rockets since Friday in Ra'anana, in the center of the country. She won't return home just yet.

"I'll have to see whether the cease-fire is real. I'll take it day by day," she said by phone. "We have no personal bomb shelters and had to sleep in the (reinforced) kindergarten. If the cease-fire holds for just awhile, it's not enough."

After the truce went into effect at 9 p.m. (2 p.m. ET), Israeli police reported a dozen more rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, but the landed in open areas and caused no casualties or damage.

Nonetheless, Yasha Rozov, a 42-year-old artist, expressed happiness that the fighting had stopped.

"Generally, I'm against violence," he said. "I don't think you can solve the problem with violence. It is doomed to be an ultimate failure."

Speaking before the expected agreement, Fern Reiss, an American living in Jerusalem, simply gave thanks.

"As we go into Thanksgiving, with millions of Israelis in the south still eating dinner in their bomb shelter - but with the promise of a cease-fire on the horizon - I am truly thankful for everything we have," she said.